The wave of storms that is currently
hitting Italy, the latest in a long series, has taken the number
of extreme-weather events the country has endured this summer up
to 1,642, five times the number of a decade ago, farmers
association Coldiretti said on Thursday.
The association released the figures on the basis of data from
the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) regarding events
such as tornadoes, extremely heavy rain, large hail and damaging
lightning strikes.
"The long hot summer, characterized by drought, was interrupted
several times by violent rainfall," Coldiretti said.
"The multiplication of extreme events has caused over six
billion euros of damage to agriculture in 2022, 10% of the
(value of) national production...
"We are before the clear consequences of climate change, where
exceptional atmospheric events are now the norm in Italy too,
with a tendency towards tropicalization manifest in more
frequent violent events, seasonal shifts, short, intense
precipitations, the fast passage from sunshine to bad weather,
with significant changes in temperature that compromises crops,
with the loss of production and damage to structure and
infrastructure in the countryside".
The current wave of storms is primarily hitting the regions in
central and northern Italy - Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Friuli
Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche and Molise.
As a result parks and public gardens were closed on Florence and
schools were shut in some parts of the country on Thursday.
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